The Mommy & Lexie Story

About Me

Lou Ann

Mom to Lexie from Aktau Kazakhstan, whom I adopted between May 20 thur July 20, 2007 (go to those posts if you'd like to read about my time in Kazakhstan.) Lexie is a funny, intelligent, outgoing and sensitive little girl and I couldn't be happier or more blessed to be her mommy.

Map of Kazakhstan

The answer is.....BUY!! The question I asked myself a few weeks ago was "should I buy or make Valentines for Lexie's class?" and I foolishly thought it would be fun to make them this year. Next year no question - it will be a quick trip to the store, I'll write out the kids names and Lexie can sign her name. End of project! What I thought would be a couple fun hours of crafting turned into two weekends of doing most of them myself and then feeling like monster trying to get Lexie to write all the names. But it started out as fun....

Lexie and I started out by getting in the mood and making some quick valentine cookies with Lexie naturally putting on tons of frosting & sprinkles.

Then Lexie "helped" my by sorting through the rose lollipops we were using on the cards.

Lexie can't have a prop of any kind in her hand without turning it into some kind of dance.

All this was very cute and quite amusing - at first.Then I discovered Lexie has never used scissors with me and hadn't done much work with it at pre-school either. Of course this project involved a LOT of cutting. So I let her practice first and she was VERY proud of her work. Unfortunately she was supposed to be cutting out a heart not a rectangle. So I realized I would be doing ALL of the cutting.

I sent her off to go help Cinderella find her lost shoe then save a few babies lives while I cut out a couple hundred hearts, leaves & flower centers.

Then Cinderella joined me to put a few heart flowers together. I have to say if they (and alright her too) where so darn cute I would have trashed them all and headed over to Walmart.

But they were cute and Lexie worked really hard writing both her name and whomever it was for on each of the leaves.

It was getting late so I gave her lunch and sent her off for a nap as I worked on getting some of them ones for the family prepped. After SHE woke up refreshed I got her a little snack and a costume change was clearly in order then back to work she went. This time on the family's "cards." That's right I wasn't doing just one project no sir - not me!

These were the for GaGa & the aunts and a few friends (it turned out to be very few friends.) They too are very cute and I improvised with the stickers to make them brighter and Lexie had more fun (and to keep her away from the scissors!)

On the first one she wrote the whole inside which said "Let's watch our Love grow GaGa" Love Lexie. This only took about a half an hour so the rest where just signed by my brilliant 4 1/2 year old. But the end results where great too.

We were both pretty done at this point and Lexie was down right silly. So I called it a night on the project for the first weekend.

During the next week we managed to get enough of the flower lollipops and flower pots done to send off to the cousins and family. I have to say they were pretty adorable.

This weekend it was all about getting her class done. Did I mention there are 24 of the little darlings in her class plus she has 6 teachers between class, lunch and daycare? What was I thinking? But the first question of the day was what outfit was right for making these beauties. The Santa tutu was the perfect "fashion" as Lexie calls it.

And not too long into the morning I was told that she HAD to try out the lollipops to make sure they are really really good. Okay - I'm a sucker (yes pun intended) for my girl in a tutu.

Finally the class was done. Lexie thought they should smell like flower but that was going to far in my book. Here they all are plus the hard little worker bee.

They really did turn out nice but next time (did I actually type that) I'll read the instructions a little better and ask Lexie if she can do some of the special skills needed.

They must be special though because Lexie told me they MADE her dance and sing.

Magic flowers for sure!

﻿Our last project was for the teachers and it was a tube of lotion with cut (there is that ugly word again) outs of Lexie's hands saying "You Deserve A Hand" on it.

They actually were quick an easy.

We managed to get everything done on Saturday so we could enjoy our Mommy & Lexie Valentine's Day on Sunday. More on that another time.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

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comments:

Oh but they turned out just beautifully!!!!! And of course cookies need copious amounts of sprinkles :) and of course we do our crafts in costume and magic flowers make us dance!!! :) THIS WHOLE post makes me smile and smile!!! I *heart* Lexie!!!

She looks SO joyful and I can just picture her handing out those darling flowers today to her buddies!

But I did giggle, cuz it reminded me of the year I had the brainstorm to handmake all of our birthday gift thank you's AND the year I wanted to do an old fashioned Christmas and make my own raffia bows and wrap in vintage paper....and the time...LOL.....

Impressive.....but I have to agree that buying is sooo much simpler, it took me about 2 hours (over 2 nights) to just get Ciera to write her name on 20 cards. Can't imagine hand making them!!! Good for you.

A CHILD IN BLOOM

As I embark on this adventure to Aktau, Kazakhstan to adopt my first child, this painting of a Rose comes to mind. I've always loved how all the adult hands surround and protect the baby's hand but at the same time are open enough for the tiny fist to grow. That's how I see this whole adoption process. So many people with one child's best interest at heart. And with each person giving this child a hand she will bloom into the best person she can be. God has given me a wonderful gift by allowing me to help this child learn and grow. I'm so grateful to all the people who have supported me (and I hope will continue to support me) through this life challenging experience.